After a concluding meeting with Mr Faruk and Ali, the SRT head back to Dhaka. Myself and Simon have arranged to fly back tomorrow, whilst Keith and Mark will return a day later. Raul has volunteered to stay on to organise the distribution of a further 200 boxes that have been sent from the UK. A further ShelterBox member will fly from England to meet him. Good luck guys.

Now back in the UK the whole experience is starting to sink in. Its nothing like what I would have imagined, but thanks to outstanding teamwork and rotary assistance, we achieved what we set out to do and provided shelter, warmth and comfort to those affected by the disaster.

Today is again spent distributing boxes. This time to villages slightly further south bordering the Sunderban – a natural heritage site and home of the Royal Bengal Tiger.
Our colleague Mr Faruk arrives having travelled all the way from Dhaka to see the fruits of his labours with the customs officials. For a 70 year old man, he is remarkably resilient to the arduous journey.
Our work complete, we return to Khulna and a real bed.

We return to the site of our first distribution to continue the process. It’s good to see the tents we supplied yesterday are already being used. It’s a long day but we have now provided Shelter to the region of 200 families from this village.
Late in the day, Simon arrives having finished his work at Dhaka airport. I don’t think he was particularly impressed with the standard of accommodation we have arranged for him.

We hear that our boxes have arrived at Royenda so make a return journey to the disaster site. With the army’s help, we take the boxes further south by boat and distribute to the areas most affected. Those in most need had been identified by the army making our job relatively simple. The people were assembled to receive a demonstration of how to erect the tents and use the other essential equipment provided. Signatures were required before the boxes could be taken by their new owners. I was impressed by the order brought about by the army and their efficiency in dealing with the situation. This in itself must have instilled a sense of normality back into the lives of the cyclone victims.
We take a look around the area and are shown the graves of those killed by the cyclone. Many are buried along the road side as this is the only area of raised ground above the marshy areas below. Part of the problem faced by the recipients of our boxes, will be clearing a site suitable to place the tent – there is just so much debris everywhere.
Simon has just about finished clearing a further 400 boxes through customs at Dhaka and has arranged for them to be sent by truck.
Not wishing to endure the 4 hour journey back to Khulna, we spend the night in a school classroom that has been taken over as an army barracks. The army also provide us with food. We take a shower from a bucket of cold water. I don’t want to think about where the water has come from. It’s certainly not the cleanest I’ve seen.

Keith and I accompany Ali to Royenda, a village in the disaster area. This is our first experience of the effects of Cyclone Sidr. The destruction is considerable and widespread. Houses and shelters destroyed, drinking water supplies contaminated, vegetation and crops flattened, fishing boats smashed. However, the sea levels have returned to normal. I could only imagine what it would be like to be faced with a 15ft wall of water sweeping away everything in its path. Cyclone shelters had been erected following previous incidents, but these could not cope with the numbers affected. However, the people we met appeared to be in good spirits and had begun the arduous task of rebuilding their homes and lives. Being predominantly Muslim, I could only think they were accepting of what Allah had decided would be their fate. Or perhaps they had just seen it all before. If only I was able to speak directly to the people and perhaps get a better understanding of their plight.
We meet briefly with the army who have set up bases throughout the disaster area and promised to offer us every assistance in distributing our boxes.
After a traumatic day, Keith and I return to Khulna – a bone shaking journey taking about 4 hours. Thankfully Ali’s hospitality is outstanding.

Wake Raul who meets us at the bus station. Our local contact is Ali, the owner of the Daily Tribune, the only English newspaper published from outside Dhaka.
We receive news that our boxes have now left Dhaka and have been flown to Barishal, a military base and distribution centre for disaster relief. Finally some good news. We also learn that part of the consignment is to be flown to an area we had already identified as being in need.